Page:The Clergyman's Wife.djvu/200

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Who are the Great?


True greatness," says Rogers, "consists in doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read, and in making mankind happier and better for your life" Judged by this pure standard, how few, and yet how many, are great! Few whose deeds the loud clarion of Fame has trumpeted throughout the world—many whose lives have never been chronicled save in the books of recording angels!

Not always the great, and not alone the great, are the "plenipotentiaries of the intellect," though their brows may be circled with undying laurels, and their lyres may sound from age to age. Not alone the great are they who have lashed men's passions into the strife of war, and triumphantly swayed the destinies of nations, overthrown kingdoms, or founded republics. Not alone the great are they who, in the pathless heavens, or beyond the trackless seas, have pointed out new worlds. Not alone the great are they who have wrought the miracles of science into familiar

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